Russia's finance ministry does not believe U.S. sanctions against Russian state debt are inevitable, and sees no imminent need to intervene in the bond market to support it, a head of the state debt department at the Russian Finance Ministry, Konstantin Vyshkovsky, said.
"We do not think that their imposition is ...a done deal," Reuters cited him as saying.
The head of the state debt department said he did not expect a decision from Washington before November’s mid-term elections.
He also did not think the extra sanctions would be enforced as "limitations on the state debt would mean limitations (on)... social spending in particular. And (Washington has said)... several times that sanctions should not be aimed at Russian citizens."
He said the finance ministry could intervene in the market to support prices but that was not currently a serious option.
"I don’t think it is relevant to say that such a measure is needed now. If we did it (in the future), then only to rein in a mood of (market) panic," Vyshkovsky noted.
He declined to say to what extent OFZ yields should rise for the financial authorities to step in. For now, Vyshkovsky said, the ministry could limit the supply of bonds by not holding its weekly OFZ auctions.
